Miriam Maud Wright

Maude "Miriam" Noel was an artist and second wife of the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The two became involved after the tragic death of Wright's mistress Mamah Cheney (née Borthwick).

On November 7, 1915 she was quoted in the Chicago Daily Tribune "...Frank Wright and I care nothing for what the world may think. We are as capable of making laws for ourselves as were the dead men who made the laws by which they hoped to rule the generations after them."

Although Wright had not yet received a divorce from Kitty, they live together and travel to Tokyo, Japan in 1916. In 1922, Wright's first wife, Kitty, granted him a divorce. He was required to wait one year and on November 19, 1923, Noel and Wright were married in Spring Green, Wisconsin.

Their relationship was quite tumultuous. Wright explains in his Autobiography that he married her to rescue their relationship. "Marriage resulted in ruin for both. Instead of improving with marriage, as I had hoped, our relationship became worse." They quarreled a great deal, she was addicted to morphine, and in less than a year they were separated.

In 1924, after the separation, but while still married, Wright met Olgivanna "Olga" Lazovich at the Petrograd Ballet in Chicago.

On November 27, 1925 Miriam filed for a divorce, alleging desertion and cruelty. After a three year legal battle, they were divorced on August 26, 1927. Lazovich and Wright were married on August 25, 1928 at midnight in Rancho Santa Fe near La Jolla. The ceremony was held one year to the day after Wright’s divorce from Miriam.

Miriam Noel Wright passed away on January 3, 1930 at the age of 61.